In 2021, Shenzhou-13 was successfully launched in anticipation, and the three astronauts spent a long and precious 183 days in space, setting a new record for the number of days, which has not been broken so far.

One of the most eye-catching is China's first female astronaut to fly twice - Wang Yaping, this time she still lived up to everyone's expectations, and successfully completed various tasks such as walking out of the cabin.

After 183 days, Shenzhou 13 landed safely, and the three astronauts finally returned to the earth, and what is surprising is that she was actually carried out, what did she experience in space, and how could her body be so weak? And under the glory of astronauts, what kind of hardship and sadness are hidden?

1. Why was he taken out of the cabin?

On April 16, 2022, the Dongfeng landing field on the Gobi Desert was filled with a tense atmosphere, and everyone was staring at the return capsule that followed the movement of the parachute in the sky, waiting for the three astronauts of the Shenzhou-13 manned spacecraft to return home.

At 9:56 a.m. that day, the return capsule successfully landed, and three astronauts also appeared in everyone's field of vision one after another, their faces were swollen and their bodies were weak, and they could only get out of the capsule with the assistance of the staff and were carried into wheelchairs.

Seeing this scene, many people have mixed feelings in their hearts, not only proud of the country's development, but also distressed by the difficulty of astronauts, but more people also have some doubts: the selection of astronauts is extremely strict, and their physical fitness is quite superior, why is their body so weak after returning from space?

In fact, this is a normal phenomenon, in the absence of gravity in space, everything is in a state of weightlessness, including astronauts, but this will not only make them unable to move, but also affect the cardiovascular system, blood will be transferred to the upper body and head, which is why their face is swollen.

After being in a weightless environment for a long time, the human body will have osteoporosis and muscle atrophy, so when they first return to Earth, they usually have a swollen face and cannot walk.

This phenomenon is not permanent, they are just that the body has not yet been converted from the space environment, as long as the body undergoes professional and systematic rehabilitation, the body will gradually recover.

In fact, the "space sequelae" is not only these, Wang Yaping once said in an interview:

When I first came back to Earth, many of my habits were uncomfortable. For example, when drinking water, I always want to stick the cup to my hand, and when I hand something to someone, I will throw it over.

Don't underestimate these strange habits, for astronauts, these are precious operating skills, so what is it like to live in space?

2. Living in space is wonderful and dangerous

On October 16, 2021, after 8 years, Wang Yaping flew into space again, and the two astronauts who carried out the mission with her were Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu, and the three spent a long and precious 183 days in space, completed a number of "first" missions, and made great contributions to China's aerospace industry.

Living in space is both wonderful and dangerous. In this special environment, which is completely different from the earth, all perceptions have to be broken and reshaped.

After entering space, the three astronauts and various items are in a weightless environment, unable to stand steadily, can only drift with the current, floating in mid-air, looking very wonderful, in recent years, the space classroom has let everyone really feel the magic of weightlessness through pictures and sounds.

But this wonder also made the astronauts' movements very inconvenient, and even the small things of eating, drinking, and sleeping became difficult. Fortunately, after years of development, the equipment in the space capsule has become more and more perfect, there are fixed sleeping bags when sleeping, special shampoo products when shampooing, and even female astronauts entering the menstrual period, there are special sanitary napkins for astronauts made of special materials.

Astronauts also need special equipment to go to the toilet, and the discharged solids need to be specially treated, otherwise they will become space junk, causing more serious consequences, and the liquid discharged by the human body will be collected by professional equipment for recycling and reuse, and become their drinking water.

Many people wonder why they don't have to prepare enough materials and have to deal with them like this? Because the space is limited, all kinds of precision instruments and necessary equipment need to be placed, so they can only compress the space of materials and recycle more things.

What is surprising is that the space is also equipped with simple fitness facilities, because in the special environment, the astronauts' bodies will undergo some changes, in order to maintain health, they will carry out some targeted exercise and health care measures.

For Wang Yaping, this space trip is extremely precious, because she completed a difficult mission out of the capsule and became the first female astronaut to walk in space in the history of China's aerospace industry.

3. The hardships behind the brilliance

Born in 1980, Wang Yaping is an authentic Shandong girl, she not only has excellent academic performance, but also excellent physical fitness, at the age of 17, she successfully passed the pilot assessment and began a rigorous training life.

After several years of training and assessment, she became an excellent female pilot, even if she was already a leader in this field, but she always wanted to take another step forward, in 2009, she signed up for the female astronaut selection and was successfully selected.

On the road to becoming an astronaut, Wang Yaping has undergone countless rigorous training, from the study of various disciplines, to the exercise of psychological quality, to the rigorous physical training, the difficulty of each training is far beyond ordinary people's imagination, but she has persevered one by one.

For Wang Yaping, overweight endurance training is a challenging one, as she has to endure pressures of up to eight times her own weight in a high-speed spinning centrifuge.

In the process, she would feel extreme difficulty breathing, and even her face would be distorted and deformed due to pressure, but she always gritted her teeth, persevered, and broke through her physical limits again and again.

Wang Yaping needs to wear more than 120 kilograms of equipment into the water to complete 4-6 hours of training, she not only has to overcome the heavy burden of equipment, but also to complete a variety of complex operational tasks, the degree of difficulty is unimaginable.

As a woman, Wang Yaping has to endure more training pressure than male astronauts, but she persevered, and this perseverance is worthy of the admiration of each of us!

The author thinks

The training of astronauts is hard, the longing for family is hard, and dangers are everywhere in space, but these cannot stop an excellent astronaut from rushing into space and wanting to serve the motherland.

Resources

Xinhua News Agency: September 22, 2022 "Authoritative Interview|Zhang Yang Talks to Wang Yaping: 183 Days of Return to Space"

Qilu One Point: November 10, 2021 "Yantai Girl Wang Yaping: Love and Persistence on the Road to Chasing Dreams"

Beijing News: October 25, 2023 "Astronauts' Overweight Endurance Training, Like 8 Pressing on Their Bodies"

China News Network: June 27, 2013 "Experts Say Astronauts Need a Long Time to Return to the Ground to Readjust to Gravity"